From Pisa Byron went to Genoa. It was in this city--once the Queen of the Mediterranean--that he conceived the idea of going to Greece, to do for that "Niobe of the Nations," as he called her, the same offices Naples had not thought fit to accept when offered to her. So far, Byron had devoted himself mainly to individuals; now he intended to devote himself to a people. In the month of April 1823 he entered into communication with the Greek Committee, and towards the end of July he left Italy. His reputation had increased extraordinarily, not only in Italy, France and Germany, but in England too. One fact will give some idea of the height to which his reputation had attained. An insurrection had broken out in Scotland in the county where his mother's property was situated. The rebels had to cross Lady Byron's estates to reach their destination, but on the confines of the property they paused and decided to cross in single file, so as only to tread down a narrow path in the crops. They did not take the same precaution on other estates, which they completely devastated. Byron often related this incident with pride. "See," he said, "how the hatred of my enemies is being avenged." Before he left Italy he wrote on the margin of a book that had been lent him-- "If all that is said of me be true, I am unworthy to see England again; if all they say of me is false, England does not deserve to see me again." But he had a presentiment that he had left his native land for ever; and Lady Blessington told me herself that, when she met Byron at Genoa, the day before he was to set sail, he said to her-- "We have met again to-day, but to-morrow we shall be separated, who knows for how long? Something here (and he laid his hand on his heart) tells me that we are meeting for the last time; I am going to Greece, and shall never return from it." Towards the end of December Byron landed in Morea, and, a few days later, he made his way into the town, in spite of the Turkish flotilla that was besieging Missolonghi. He was greeted with enthusiastic shouts by the people, who led him in triumph to the house they had got ready for him.